“What is that favour you wanted from me? You never went into detail on it. You told me you need powerful allies, but what could I possibly help the crown with?” Long Di posed two main questions that he needed answers to.

“Well…” Yaomu Shou appeared as if she was racking her head on how to answer his questions. “Let’s start with the second one.”

****

“You know who I am… and what my goals would probably align with, right?” Yaomu Shou asked as she continued along with him.

Long Di nodded and gave an offhand answer, “To become the new king, I guess…”

“Right, and do you know the nuances of the bloodthirsty cutthroat process involved with me succeeding this position?” Yaomu Shou continued to probe him.

“Thinking that it most likely involves murder, blackmail, fraud and chronic lying, I would imagine that it’s much like your run-of-the-mill job hunting after leaving school.”

Hearing Long Di’s reply, Yaomu Shou couldn’t help herself from shaking her head with a wry smile. “I understand little of what you said, and it both impresses and terrifies me.”

“That’s probably what an interviewer feels when they talk to someone who has zero Fs to give at any point in time,” said Long Di before moving on. “So you’re saying that the process isn’t going to be easy, and it’s not going to be peaceful. Now, if I use a process of calculation powered by common sense, I would say that you want a strong ally who you can call upon to help quiet dissenters. Am I in the right ballpark?”

“More or less…” Yaomu Shou wasn’t surprised that Long Di understood her aims, which was why she nonchalantly agreed with his shot in the dark.

“To be honest, you and everyone else aren’t the only ones I have under my umbrella. I have recruited other decently talented demons from good backgrounds to help me. They know who I am and with that knowledge, join me in my goals while also pandering to me, which gets tiring real fast. When I heard of you through my connections, I expected more of the same. I was a bit surprised when you were really a human and I DID feel a bit uneasy at first.”

She was a little apprehensive about telling Long Di how she really felt about him in the beginning, but decided it was best to base their future collaboration on trust.

“I only helped Shen Ling and the others before because I needed a way to tie you to me in my endeavours. Unexpectedly, I was drawn in by their purity and sincerity, despite not knowing who I was. That felt… good. I wanted to continue this for as long as I could, which is why I didn’t want anyone bringing up who I was.”

Long Di did recall that many times they met people who were able to discern clues of her identity based on the unique features of her race.

Yaomu Shou went on, “However, everyone is branching off and will come to know who I am in time. It scares me that this might change their views and subsequent behaviour toward me, but I can only wait and see what happens there. I wasn’t thinking of them being involved with me beyond a certain point but, I never once thought that their levels of talent would be so high and that I would even find a Yu Lang AND a Shidashi Linghun among them. To be honest, just the mere fact that I have two such existences to call on should be more than enough when they grow up to provide me with the help I’ll need. Yet, I don’t feel secure with just this…”

Yaomu Shou paused here as a look of weariness took over. It was beyond the physical and was more of the mind. Even Long Di, who was handicapped when it came to social nuances, could feel this from her in waves.

She eventually plastered a smile on her face and continued, “Someone like you can give me the sense of security I need, but at the same time, you’re much too powerful and disconnected to have as a reliable general. Still, I feel much more at ease when I think of you as a friend I can count on.”

Saying this, she looked to Long Di for a bit of recognition on this front but received a blank look instead. For some reason, this made her feel even more at ease.

As if the lack of effort on his part to placate her was a kind of admittance to the blunt person he was. You know what you’re getting with him and there were no hidden agendas to accompany him.

This made the smile she wore, though it didn’t change, contain more sincerity. “This is something I really need since the royal family itself is getting more and more unfamiliar to me. It’s one of the reasons why I refuse to stay there. Besides, due to circumstances, I am not well known among the general populace so, not a lot of people know me specifically unless I deign to prove it. So it gives me a lot of chances to see what’s going on in the demon region I will eventually come to rule.”

Long Di got the general gist of it. She kinda answered both of his questions since it was intermixed, but that made it easier for him.

“Are you planning to join any sects when you leave the demon region?” Yaomu Shou asked out of nowhere.

“Saber Mountain and I’ll probably only go up from there.” Long Di answered without a thought.

Yaomu Shou nodded in understanding. “Good to know.”

“Surround it!”

“Don’t let it escape!”

Suddenly, shouts came from ahead that caught both Long Di and Yaomu Shou’s attention.

They went on for a while until they came upon a ridge. They slowly approached it and popped their heads up a little to see what was going on.

When the entire episode bore itself to them, Long Di displayed that rare spark of interest while contempt fuelled Yaomu Shou’s expression.

On the other side of the ridge were four human cultivators with swords in hand hunting and surrounding another cultivator of a race Long Di was unfamiliar with.

This unfamiliar race was twice the size of the humans hunting her. Her skin was a light brown colour that reminded Long Di of coffee with a little too much milk thrown in. There were also diamond patterns covering it from head to toe.

Her eyes were like that of a frog, and her dark brown hair was wild and unkempt. It appeared to have the texture of wool from afar. Whether it was brown because that was its natural colour or if it was owed to the dirt that plagued it, Long Di couldn’t tell.

She was way past dishevelled at this point since she was bleeding in several places and her clothes were a tattered mess. Her breathing was haggard and rushed, a clear of the exhaustion that threatened to take her consciousness at any point.

Nine cauldrons spun behind her. Eight were white and one was red. Her talent could be seen at a glance as not being very high.

The four human cultivators, on the other hand, all had cauldrons at the high grade on average, with one sporting a supreme grade cauldron.

The swords they held all held bloodstains splattered all over. It was obvious that each of them was able to get a hit in on this unfamiliar race.

“A Mofang Dao,” Yaomu Shou whispered to herself.

Of course, Long Di caught this, and the name threw him for a loop. “Mofang…? Mofang, Mofang, as in to imitate?”

Yaomu Shou nodded to confirm his guess was correct. “They’re not demons or anything but a separate race altogether. Let’s get out of here.”

Long Di could feel the scorn coming from her as she spoke. However, he didn’t complain and sure as hell didn’t propose something as ludicrous as helping a stranger.

As they backed from the ridge that hid them from view, he looked back to see the Mofang Dao sneaking a glance at him.

While his own gaze was indifferent, hers was filled with unwillingness and anger.

Even though this was the case, it was almost as if she was battling with an internal decision. One that she didn’t have much time to make. Eventually, the indecision ceased, and she made her move.

Shu!

In a surprise action that caught both Long Di and Yaomu Shou off guard, she took off in their direction!

Shing!

Yaomu Shou’s expression turned grave in an instant, and she quickly unsheathed her sword.

As she came closer, Yaomu Shou’s aura spiked explosively as her grip around her sword tightened.

That is, until Long Di made a request she didn’t see coming. “Yaomu Shou, step aside.”

Yaomu Shou was shocked at Long Di’s request. She didn’t hide her disgust at the Mofang Dao and she knew that Long Di had to have picked up for there to be a reason for her to be acting that way.

Yet Long Di’s tone of insistence wasn’t lost on her, so with much reluctance, she acquiesced to his request.

“I have to say that if it’s using us to offset their attacks, I won’t have mercy on it. I made an enormous concession already not going over there to kill it myself.”

Long Di agreed with this condition. What Yaomu Shou meant by offsetting their attacks was a tactic where the Mofang Dao led over her pursuers where under the assault of their attacks, she would direct them toward Long Di and Yaomu Shou.

This could either cause a seed of conflict to arise between Long Di’s group and the human pursuers or, at the very least, allow an attack to be resolved without her power, which would give her some breathing space at least.

Yaomu Shou didn’t like being used by anyone in such a way, so though she listened to Long Di, she could only take so many steps back.

“Third Step Wind Blade!”

Whoosh!

One of her pursuers unleashed an attack with his sword, which caused three blades of wind to manifest towards her.

By now she was a few metres from Long Di and Yaomu Shou and was in the perfect position to use them as scapegoats if she wanted.

Shu! Shu!

Through deft movements, she dodged the first two wind blades and as for the last one, well…

Pu Ci!

A spray of blood flew into the air as the third wind blade mercilessly cut into her back.

Yaomu Shou saw this and was shocked!

“What the-”

Shu!

Before Yaomu Shou could process what was happening, the Mofang Dao had already run past her.

When her pursuers had arrived at the top of the ridge and spotted both Long Di and Yaomu Shou, they were slightly surprised.

Mostly that the two of them didn’t do anything to stop or hinder the Mofang Dao.

Did they not know what this race did!?

However, they didn’t do anything and only continued their pursuit until they and the Mofang Dao disappeared from view.

Long Di stared in that direction long after Yaomu Shou had lost sight of them.

“Why did you have me stand down?” she finally asked him.

Long Di then directed his attention toward her. “Why did you want to kill her?”